After 3 years of teaching english as a foreign language here in France, I've decided that the life here is quite good
(especially compared to the USA) and I'd like to stay here I bit longer. I'm therefore going back to square one this year, and starting a french bachelors program in Géographie et Aménagement. The current idea is to go into Urbanism later, but I'm flexible. So: I do that, and in my off time lots of reading, hiking, cooking and attending concerts.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

As a guest: Normally I value autonomy very highly when travelling, and thus tend to stick to bicycle tours or other things that involve camping; I'm confident enough in my ability to find a good time wherever I go. However, some places I visit with the idea that maybe I'd someday like to live there, and in these cases I find it invaluable to be able to actually stay with people who live in the area and see what kind of things are going on on a day to day level.

As a host: I finally feel "at home" enough where I am that I feel in a good situation to share what I have going on with other people.

Interests

I strongly enjoy speaking foreign languages, drinking and smoking (reasonable amounts of course), playing soccer and frisbee, riding my bicycle, reading in english and french (mostly novels), and eating and cooking real good vegetarian food.

• cooking
• beer
• reading
• cycling
• hiking
• languages

Music, Movies, and Books

Books - Haruki Murakami, David Foster Wallace, David Mitchell. Currently reading Texaco by Patrick Chamoiseau, really into it.

Music - A big range of things, as I'm contstantly looking for music new and old that interests me. Currently exploring some older folk stuff such as Bert Jansch and Nick Drake, electronic stuff such as Nicolas Jaar and DJ Koze, and Glenn Jones.

Movies - Trying to watch more foreign movies currently, just watched the animes Perfect Blue and Paprika, super trippy and good. Other than that standard stuff, things by Tarantino, the Coen brothers, Wes Anderson.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

During 3 months I rode my bicycle across the USA (west coast to east coast) with a good buddy!

Teach, Learn, Share

Love learning and speaking different languages, and in general talking to people about their lives and how they view the world. Also the older I get the more cooking seems like a good idea, so always down to cook together.

Feel free to check out the photos I've taken during traveling around the last 4 or 5 years here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mynameistoby/.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I guess stories of places I've been to, my thoughts on whatever books/movies/music I've been digging lately, and an agreeable time around a bottle of wine.

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Scotland, Spain, Switzerland, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Belgium, France, New Zealand, United States

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